Feds roll out promised funding for LGBTQ groups to 76 organizations

OTTAWA — Seventy-six LGBTQ projects in Canada have received $15 million in federal money.

The money follows up on a promise in the 2019 federal budget to set up a fund to encourage and support the development of LGBTQ organizations.

Programs across the country are receiving money, including those working with LGBTQ refugees, Indigenous youth and transgender Canadians.

The $20-million LGBTQ2 community capacity fund was set up in direct response to groups who said they needed help running their organizations and building networks to support their work.

Federal ministers Maryam Monsef and Bardish Chagger made the funding announcement at a virtual news conference today.

Last year, they’d announced the first $2 million in support under the program, and say the remaining $3 million will go toward administering the program.

Berkha Gupta of LGBT Youth Line said the funding their group will receive is all the more important in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gupta said it will help grow the organization’s programming, including outreach to LGBTQ youth living in rural communities.

“Isolation is not new for LGBTQ youth,” Gupta said.

“In a pandemic, it’s felt much, more worse as youth lose access to their spaces, where they often get to be with other queer youth and just be their whole selves.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2021.

Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press